Who is Brother Maynard?

Brother Maynard is a fictional character. Sorry. The name comes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I first used it as a pseudonym around 1987 when I needed a false identity to publish articles for the college student newspaper (don’t ask). In all the time I used it, only one person was able to guess my secret identity without being told, so I guess that was good. Reaction to one story in particular meant that it was not only good, it was very good and I figured it spared me somewhat. I used it again around 1998-99 for an article or two, at which time I started signing everything, Gratia Vobis et Pax which is Latin for “Grace to you, and peace.” I’m sure you get where that comes from. When I started writing on the blog, I decided to pull out the old handle and start using it again; some of the reasons for desiring a pseudonym were noted in Post #1, where I said, “the names are being witheld to protect the innocent and show grace toward the guilty.”

At the time I started the blog in November 2004, I was grappling with a church I’d been a part of for almost 16 years, trying to figure out what had changed and whether the changes meant I’d have to leave, departing from so many friends I’d known. I felt at the time I needed to be able to say whatever I felt the need to say without having any negativity tracked back to the specific church. Enough time has now passed that it probably matters much less if people from college know who Brother Maynard was all those years ago, and if my specific comments are traced to a specific church, well, we’ll just have to hope for the best. There was always a trail of breadcrumbs to reveal my identity, but bit by bit, I’m going to start publishing the facts.

So basically, I started thinking, started blogging, kept thinking, increased the amount I was reading, talked a lot with friends, reached a few conclusions, and before you know it, I’m part of the Emerging Conversation. It just happened… and sometimes life is like that.

About the Blog

The Charge of Brother Maynard

A reading from the Book of Armaments, Chapter 4, Verses 16 to 20:
Then did he raise on high the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, saying, “Bless this, O Lord, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy.” And the people did rejoice and did feast upon the lambs and toads and tree-sloths and fruit-bats and orangutans and breakfast cereals … Now did the Lord say, “First thou pullest the Holy Pin. Then thou must count to three. Three shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither shalt thou count two, excepting that thou then proceedeth to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the number of the counting, be reached, then lobbest thou the Holy Hand Grenade in the direction of thine foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.”